Dreaming
by TerrifiedOfButterflies
Summary: Independent of the plot of Starship, Specs and Krayonder are working together in a weapons plant. Specs fixes the equipment, and Krayonder tests it. Specs begins to have some... interesting... dreams about her colleague, followed by very real flirtatious advances. Total fluff piece.
1. Chapter 1

Her face is pressed to his neck, her lips sucking and pulling at the taut skin. He hovers over her, his crotch grinding against hers, the denim of his jeans scraping against her naked legs. His fists are tangled in the sheets as he moans into her ear, her fingers caressing his back. He pulls himself down, kissing a trail down her body. Across her collarbones, one over each rib, her belly button, moving lower and lower until…

Specs wakes with a gasp. She's panting, sweat clinging to her body underneath the sheets. Summer nights on Mars can be hell. She throws the blankets off, sits up, and pulls her knees up to her chest. Just a dream. A damn good one… But a dream nonetheless.

"Water. I need water," she says to an empty room. Specs slides off the bed and walks into her bathroom. Taking the glass from the medicine cabinet, she fills it from the tap and downs it in a single gulp. She examines herself in the mirror. Her red hair is a mess of frizzy curls, her freckles are looking especially spotty, and her lips are cracked and dry. She sighs. It was definitely a dream.

Specs looks at the watch placed perfectly parallel to the sink. 3:06 am. With a loud groan, she crawls back into bed, pulling only the light sheet around her thin body. She had work at 6, and could not afford to be late. Every minute on this assignment was a minute with Krayonder, and she did not want to miss a single one.

"Morning, Specs!" Krayonder called out as he entered the room. Arms swinging by his sides, wide steps, and an even wider smile… What was he, a fucking Disney prince? Specs forced a grimace and returned his greeting.

"What's wrong? You look like you woke up on the wrong side of the planet."

"Just, not much sleep. That's all."

Krayonder plopped onto a rolling stool and pulled up at Specs' side, just inches away. "Well dude, you know there are ways to wear yourself out before bed," he purred. Specs froze, staring at the device in her hands which she had quite forgotten the purpose of. She slowly turned to look at him. He was… Were those bedroom eyes? And as quickly as they had startled her, they were gone. He wheeled over to his work station and began powering it on.

"Hey, do you think you could help me with the formatting on this damn report thingy? I'm really just here because they let me test out the prototype zappers; the paperwork is beyond my skills, man…"

"Um, yeah, sure," she whispered. Specs blinked rapidly, trying to regain her focus. She had no sooner picked up the tiny laser screwdriver when she felt breath on her neck.

"What are you working on?" he asked.

Specs felt her whole body tense up. "I'm fixing this… thingy."

"I believe that's a firing coil for the new Zapper T800," he said. Specs felt fingertips ghosting over her spine. She shivered. Krayonder laughed. "Relax, Specs," he whispered his face next to her ear. "You know I'd like, never do anything to hurt you." His hand gently slid back down the way it had come, curling around her side around her middle. Specs closed her eyes.

And then he was gone again. When she looked around, he was meandering back to his station.

The next half hour passed without incident. Krayonder was humming under his breath, old jazz songs, Specs thought, but he didn't come near her again.

"Hey man, what's the code for entering results of field tests again?"

"Um, here, let me show you," Specs said. She walked over to his table and leaned in. Her fingers moved like lightning over the keyboard, filling in all the necessary code in a matter of seconds. Krayonder smiled up at her.

"Thanks man! I don't, like, know what I would do if we weren't paired together on this."

Specs smiled. "I agree, this is a very beneficially partnership for this program." She felt her cheeks heating up.

Krayonder rolled his eyes. "That's like, not at all what I meant." He returned to his typing, leaving Specs to walk dazedly back to her station.

Was she still dreaming? Was that it? It may not be as graphic as some of the others, but it was certainly strange. He'd always been pleasant and complimentary, but something was off about him today. He was… ecstatic. Specs felt something hitch in her throat.

Wasn't this how people got after sex?

Specs had had sex, of course… but she'd heard that truly great sex left people glowing. Like Disney princes.

She felt a tear threatening the corner of her eye. _Stop it_, she thought to herself. _Don't be so stupid! You don't even know that he did have sex, and besides, I'm not certain we're even conscious._

Specs finished up her work on the firing coil and picked up the next piece that needed tweaking.

Of course he was having sex. He was gorgeous, single, and only 30% of this godforsaken place was male. Who decided to fill the Martian weapons manufacturing plant with smart, competent women? Terrible idea! They should have hired trigger-happy men, they'd be sure to get the job done.

Specs smirked to herself.

"ARGH! DeadGod fuckignd ammnit all to hell!"

"What? What is wrong?"

"My damn station froze, and I'm going to lose this whole report!"

"No you're not," Specs said. She walked over to the station, craning to look at the screen from a standing position next to him. "Here, can you... Can you scoot over please?"

"You can sit on my lap, little lady," Krayonder said, winking up at her and patting his knee. Specs took a single step backwards, folded her arms, and stared him straight in the eyes.

"Not a chance in hell, Krayonder. Now do you want me to save your report or not?"

"Fine, fine," he said, scooting away, "But hell is looking pretty icy these days, Specs. It might freeze over and then we'll see who… has a... a lap that… Oh you know what I mean!"

Specs just laughed. Within a few minutes, she had fixed his computer problem. She walked back to her station and sat down, crossing her legs.

"No way… No way! How did you do that, dude? It's like, totally saved!"

"Simple fix," she said, trying not to be too pleased with herself. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Krayonder leap out of his chair and start walking over. She turned her head slightly. "Hmm?"

Within moments he was at her side, holding her head in his hands, planting a kiss on her cheek.

"What would I even do if you weren't here?" He exclaimed. Specs felt herself flushing scarlet. To her surprise, Krayonder was also turning very pink. He wiped his palms on the back of his jeans and swallowed. She noticed that his breath rate had sped up quite a bit. "Well, um… I'm just gonna… I need to test out the T800. Are those parts ready?"

"Oh, yeah…" She handed him the parts she had fixed.

"Thanks Specs… man… bro," Krayonder muttered, rushing from the room.

If she had been confused before, she was now bewildered, puzzled, and befuddled; however, she was definitely awake. Specs lifted a hand to her cheek. Yup, definitely not a dream.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

That night was even harder for Specs. One minute she was pulling his head down to her face, their lips crashing together, bodies writhing together and becoming tangled in the sheets; and the next she awoke in a cold sweat. Again, she took a long drink of cool water and returned to bed, but the dreams didn't stop. She woke repeatedly, always with rapid breathing and pulse, feeling completely hopeless.

To add insult to injury (so to speak), Krayonder hadn't stopped flirting with her. Her reality and her dreams seemed to be merging. It was becomingly increasingly difficult not to just grab him and kiss his stupid face in the middle of the work day! Thank dead God for self-restraint, as meager as it may be.

On Tuesday, she had shown him how to fix a bug in one of the computer programs he required. As she was leaning over his computer, she realized he wasn't paying attention. When she turned her head to scold him, he reached up and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear.

"Sorry," he had said, "You're very distracting." Specs had just gaped like a fish. "I think I understand. Thanks for your help."

On Wednesday, she caught him staring at her ass. Not just looking. Not just accidentally noticing. STARING; cold, calculated ogling in the workplace! As much as the feminist in her screamed, she had smiled despite herself.

By Friday, she realized that he had stopped addressing her by boyish monikers like bro, dude, and man. He seemed to be making an effort to say her name. He seemed to quite enjoy the taste of it, cracking a smile every time he spoke to her. Then again, he was a very cheerful person by nature.

Saturday morning, Specs was pleased to wake up late and dream-free. Smile on her face, she looked forward to a day of tinkering with pet projects, wrapped in blankets, stuffing her face with snack foods! Oh yeah, Specs loved Saturdays.

First things first, she slipped into a pair of dark wash jeans and a thick black sweater. The cafeteria kept the A/C blowing full blast all the time in order to keep the food from spoiling, but it made for a really uncomfortable breakfast. Grabbing her employee ID card, she slipped out the door into the residential corridor. She walked the short distance to the cafeteria and helped herself to a big bowl of oatmeal and a tall mug of coffee. She slipped into a booth in a corner and dug in.

A few moments later, someone slid into the booth on the opposite bench. Specs looked up, startled.

"Krayonder! Oh, um, hello," she said.

"Hey, Specs," he said, pronouncing her name slowly. "Nice to see you."

"Um, yes," she said. She eyed the mug in his hand. "Is that all you're having?" She asked, trying to find some route of polite, non-work-related conversation.

"Oh, uh, actually, I already had breakfast. Almost an hour ago. Just, drinking tea, hanging out," he said. "So, um, what are your plans for the day?"

"Well, I'm working on… you wouldn't be interested."

"Try me."

"Well, uh, it's an… antigravity pachyderm that produces sounds in a low range when a user activates the motion sensors on its exterior plating."

He frowned into his cup intently, took a deep breath, and looked up. "OK, I'm really lost. Let's take it slow and in English. Antigravity, so it floats?"

Specs smiled. "Yes. Antigravity pachyderm,"

"That's an Earth mammal."

"Actually it's a classification for several types of mammals. This one is known as an 'elephant.'"

"Ok, so a floating… elephant. It produces sounds, you said?"

"Yes. When the operator or someone nearby activates-"

"The sensors on the exterior metal plating," he said. Krayonder looked into his cup for a long moment, and then began to laugh. He looked into her eyes. "Specs, it's a toy!"

She blushed deeply, dropping her spoon back into her oatmeal and gazing at it sadly. Krayonder reached out and took her hand in his.

"No, no, Specs, don't be ashamed. That's wonderful! I had no idea you made toys."

"Well, I don't. It's just a pet project I've been doing since I got here. It's nothing special…"

"You're wrong. That's like, totally special man! I had no idea." Specs looked up and found him looking at her intently. His eyes were sparkling, their cinnamon color unusually bright. The smile on his face stretched from ear to ear, his lips pulled back, revealing his teeth. He had very prominent canines.

"Well, that sounds great, but, um… well I was hoping maybe you'd come to my baseball game later. I don't know if you like baseball-"

"I do!"

"Great! Well, some of the guys planned a game for today, and I'm not very good, but it sounded fun. I'd just... I think maybe you might bring me some luck. To be honest, I'll be lucky if the ball doesn't hit me in the face…"

Specs laughed. It seemed improbable that a man of Krayonder's physical build and high energy would be inept at sports. "Yeah, I'd love to come."

"Great," he said, smiling even wider. "It's in holodeck 3 at noon. I, um, I'll see you there."

"Yeah," Specs smiled.

Krayonder took his hand off hers, and Specs realized he had never let go. She hadn't even noticed.

"Kay… see ya," he said, sliding out of the booth and walking away. Specs felt too excited to eat. Krayonder had left his mug. As she picked up his cup, a bit of tea splashed out and landed on her hand. It was ice cold. Just how long had he been sitting in the cafeteria?

* * *

Noon could not come soon enough. Specs entered the holodeck a few minutes early, and found a seat on the bleachers in the front row. A baseball field, circa 1950, had been created in the holographic space. It was, however, full of very real people. Engineers and testers, like Krayonder, decked the field in their loose clothing. The holodeck had created a sun that was beating down heavily, echoing the very real Martian heat. Specs had changed from her sweater into a baggy t-shirt. Sitting further down the bleachers were some of her colleagues. Dr. Amy Freeman was in a pair of very short shorts, and Dr. Lucy Spellman's shirt was unbuttoned, revealing a bright yellow bikini top. There seemed to be many women in short or revealing clothing. Specs felt uncomfortable exposing skin, and although she tried very hard to accept women's choices, she carried some judgment in her heart towards those who chose a wardrobe that was typically "revealing." Then again, they were all incredibly intelligent, like herself. Some were literally geniuses. They could dress however the hell they liked.

Krayonder sidled up to the fence in front of Specs. He smiled and waved before being pulled into a "team huddle." Soon, the game was underway. Specs cheered loudly for Krayonder's team, 'The Pachyderms.' She had gasped when they announced the team names, and hadn't been able to remove the smile from her face since. Krayonder came up to bat twice in the first six innings, striking out once and getting walked once. He seemed pretty down. Sitting on the sidelines, he would occasionally twist around to see if Specs was still there, and she would flash him the biggest smile she could muster. He'd flash a small one back, then return his focus to the game. At one point, she caught several of his teammates looking at her and poking him, but she brushed it from her mind.

The ninth inning rolled around. Krayonder walked up to the plate, wiping his hands on his pants. He grabbed the bat firmly, planting his feet, breathing in and out. The pitcher wound up, and threw a curveball. Krayonder swung, and-

Strike one. He breathed out, shuffled the dirt around his feet, and slid back into position. Specs looked out at the field. The bases were loaded, and his team only needed two more runs to win. She looked back at Krayonder. He was looking at her, almost expectantly. Specs smiled, feeling warmth spread through her body. Her smile was not sympathetic, she was not offering pity; she knew he could hit that ball. She knew it.

Krayonder seemed to relax. He turned back to the pitcher who immediately released another ball. The crack of the bat rang in the ears of the crowd as the ball soared. The players all looked up as it passed over their heads, disappearing beyond the wall of the field.

Specs looked to the batter. He looked dumbstruck. "Run! Krayonder, you hit a homer! RUN!" He looked up when she called his name, and seemed to suddenly process what had happened. He took off and, preceded by his teammates, ran over home base with glee.

"With the addition of four runs, the Pachyderms WIN!" cried the announcer. Krayonder didn't stop after he passed home plate. He ran right into the crowd, right to Specs. She had stood up to cheer him around the bases, and now Krayonder grabbed her around the middle and lifted her into the air. Squealing, she threw her arms around his neck and held on as he spun in circles. Finally he set her on her feet. Linking their fingers together loosely at their sides, Krayonder pressed his forehead against hers, breathing heavily.

"You are _definitely_ my good luck charm," he whispered. Sliding his hand to the back of her neck, he gently tipped her head back and kissed her. His lips were warm against hers. Specs really wasn't sure what to do- her mind was one huge blank. His tongue sought entrance to her mouth, and she acquiesced. He kissed her until he absolutely had to stop (he was still short of breath, after all). He returned his forehead to hers, and Specs didn't open her eyes.

"I must be dreaming again," she whispered.

"I really hope not," he said, "This is quickly becoming the best day of my life. I'd hate to wake up."

Specs opened her eyes and Krayonder took a step back. He was smiling giddily. A burly hand grabbed him by the collar and tugged him into a crowd, where he was hoisted onto the shoulders of his teammates and carried out of the holodeck. Specs watched him go, smiling to herself. Suddenly she was pushed. She managed to grab onto the bleachers and keep herself up as Amy Freeman strutted past, tossing her hair off her shoulders and looking down at Specs with eyes narrowed.

Doctorate or not, sometimes a bitch was just a bitch.


End file.
